While golf is a purely recreational endeavor for many, it is serious business for a number of people including professional players and serious amateurs. These people may make large expenditures of time, money, and effort to find one or more golf clubs or putters that work well for them. Every golfer has his favorite putter, for example, used to guide the ball into the hole. Putters come in many sizes and shapes to accommodate the individual tastes and preferences of the sports enthusiast. Putters of the prior art, when modified, have typically been customized in one or perhaps two of six possible dimensions (i.e., axes).
Heretofore, a golfer has had to find a putter he or she liked and then had to change the stance, stroke, or some other aspect of their game to accommodate the nuances of the chosen club.
In golf, putting is a particularly difficult task at best, and sometimes a seemingly impossible feat. Every golfer has experienced those days when the ball just does not fall into the cup. It is at these moments that most golfers wish to have additional help. The fact is, however, that the motion of a golf ball is controlled by Newton's three laws of motion. A properly controlled swing of a golf club results in the desired speed and direction of the ball.
Golfers usually concentrate upon or at least take into account the break and speed of the green when putting. Their attention is focused mainly upon the trajectory or path that the ball is to travel to the cup. The golf club head must strike the ball at a 90° angle to the intended direction of travel thereof. Some golf putters have a line or groove drawn along the center of the top of the club head, in order to provide an indicator that will align the club face with the ball, and point to the direction of the cup. It has long been known that a golfer's head must be aligned with his or her club face to ensure proper direction of the struck ball. Lines, grooves, or other similar devices provide the golfer help in aligning his or her head in the X and Y axes. Such alignment aids have been found to improve a golfer's putting accuracy. Although this can be a useful visual aid, such golf club markings are often prohibited by rules of golf associations, such as the United States Golf Association (USGA).
It has also been found that alignment in the fourth and fifth axes provides further improvement in a golfer's putting accuracy. Fourth, fifth, and sixth axes are defined as rotation axes around the well known X, Y, and Z-axes of the Cartesian coordinate system, respectively. These definitions are especially well known to people skilled in computer aided design (CAD) and the machining arts.
The present invention provides a system and method whereby a golfer's natural and/or preferred stance may be accurately quantified. From this quantification, a custom club or putter may be constructed so that the golfer's stroke is optimized when he or she is in most natural, comfortable position.